Happy New Year! No really, today marks the last Sunday of the Christian
year. So as the rest of the world has been thrown into preparations for the holiday
season, for the church it begins today. For today is Christ the King Sunday,
a day in which we celebrate the year we have traveled and prepare for the coming hope of the advent season. This is a time to reflect on where we have been, where we are and where we are going. So again I say, happy New Year!
I must admit Christ the King Sunday often gets lost in the hustle and bustle of the commercial holiday season,
but as a church it is an important Sunday to remember. As Wikipedia defines and
explains the Sunday, “Christ the King Sunday is celebrated on the last Sunday of Ordinary time (last Sunday after Pentecost), before the beginning of Advent that starts the new Church Year. As the last Sunday of the Christian Church Year, Christ the King Sunday is the climax and conclusion of the Church’s liturgical journey through
the life of Christ and the Gospel message.
Its purpose is to celebrate the coming reign of Christ as King of the Earth and his completion of the renewed creation
that marks the fullness of the Kingdom of God. That hope is born from the entire life of Christ and his
teachings that have been celebrated in the seasons of the Church Year during the past twelve months. In celebrating the Reign
of Christ the King, this Sunday also provides an appropriate bridge to the new Church Year that begins the following Sunday
on the first Sunday of Advent with an emphasis on hope and expectation, the longing for the coming of the Kingdom of God amid
the darkness of a sinful world.
So where do we begin this journey of reflection? The first scripture
reading today was from Ezekiel, a passage talking to the exiled people, those who were sent away from their homeland to live
with those they had not always gotten along with. The words of Ezekiel are such
a powerful reminder of the faithfulness of God. For we hear, “ For thus
says the Lord God, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As
shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered…”
This theme of seeking for the scattered sheep is one that our church has been engrossed in. WE began our year last December with the advent season, we traveled then through the Christmas season,
and as we approached Lent we turned our focus as a church united towards the 40 days of purpose. We gathered together for a kick off breakfast and from there we spent the next 6 weeks reading together,
and meeting together. We searched out members who had begun to get lost in the
cracks and those new to the fold and we joined together in each other’s home, studying and sharing. We met new people and experienced the joy of fellowship and discipleship.
It was a wonderful time to search out our flock and to begin a journey together.
And some of those small groups are still meeting together and have enjoyed a full year of celebration.
And as we look to our future, our church is once again preparing for an event that will bring together those
members who have been scattered and those that are new. For come May we will
be celebrating a heritage homecoming. We will seek out those who have been scattered
around the country, while remembering days past, we will invite back pastors and musicians and we will experience some of
the early days of our own church. And we will also reflect on where we are, and
continue to look to the future, to get a glimpse of where we are headed.
This past year has also found us reflecting on our stewardship of our buildings.
Seeing their original purpose and celebrating all that they once supported. Observing
now how our property is being used and in what condition it is currently in. While
also dreaming of the future and what our space could be, how we as Beckley Presbyterian Church can continue to be the city
built on the hill. As our joyous daring task force continues their work, the
coming year will provide opportunities for us all to get involved.
It has been a busy year of reconnecting our flock. The words of
Ezekiel express God as the true shepherd, the one who can and will reunite the entire flock of the children of God. And as we move in to further reflection of the year we have journeyed through remember the time we spent
in the book of Genesis, hearing the accounts of Noah and Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses and some of the
women who touched their lives. Our summer was filled with remembering the voices
of Genesis, the earliest accounts of God’s faithfulness. There were scriptures
read that were old familiar voices and some that we heard that felt like we were listening for the first time. We journeyed with the scriptures hearing the voices of those who had encountered God in ways we can only
imagine.
We have been on quite the journey up to this point, and now we find ourselves ready to celebrate the New Year. We are already thinking about Christmas as we begin to bring in hats and scarves for
Presbyterian Women, we thought about Christmas when we as a church made 93 shoeboxes to send to children all around the world. We will continue to think about Christmas as we participate in the alternative Christmas
market. For thinking towards Christmas gives an opportunity to hear the words
from our second scripture reading today with a different focus.
Let us listen to these words once again, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave
me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you
took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was
it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw
you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and
visited you?' And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members
of my family, you did it to me.”
As a church that is focused on serving others we have the opportunity
to meet people where they are, and to reach out to them with our gifts. We don’t
always need to just give money in order to help others, we give of our time and our talents. Those who help out at Carpenter’s
Corner weekly, those who visit our sick members and friends, those who help to get the service out on the radio for those
who can’t make it to church, those who lift up this community in prayer, those who teach our children, those who correspond
with our missionaries and set up new opportunities to hear from people around the world.
We are a church focused on helping people, of following Christ’s example and remembering that every person we
encounter is a child of God, whether a part of the flock or one who has been scattered.
Can we do more? Of course we can.
It seems we always hear more about people in need this time of the year, but we all know those who are in need this
time of the year, need our help all year long. So let where we are now, just
be the stepping-stone of where we could be if we turn our hearts to serving others all through the year.
The
question that remains is, where are we headed next? And again two things jump
into my mind. This May we will be celebrating a church homecoming, where as many
people as we can reach out to we hope return home for this special weekend. There
will be opportunities to reconnect and enjoy some fellowship, there will be chances to look at where the church has been and
where it is headed. But most specifically it will be an amazing opportunity to
see God’s faithfulness to this church. We will be able to rejoice over
where we were and contemplate where we are now, and celebrate over the great opportunities we will have to share the love
of God.
The
other place we are headed is forward. As we hear from the joyous daring task
force that was sent out with the goal of leading and guiding us down the road to a repaired and more functional church facility. This task is not an easy one, for as much as we all know there are areas in which
we agree on, such as fixing warped wood, there are areas in which we will not all agree, perhaps on the future of the educational
building. Our future is one that will require us to stick together, to join our
efforts and talents in to truly making this church building the best it can be for where we are headed.
We have
the delicate task as a congregation, as a church family to listen to one another through this process, to not shut our ears
and open our mouths when we disagree but to listen with our hearts and to open our minds and hearts to where God is leading
us. As this year has been one of reconnecting, let the coming years be ones of
sticking together through good and bad. For what better way to be the example
Christ requires than by working as one body towards the goal of sharing God’s love.
For
let us remember the purpose of this Sunday, Christ the King Sunday’s “purpose is to celebrate the coming reign
of Christ as King of the Earth and his completion of the renewed creation that marks the fullness of the Kingdom
of God. That hope is born from the entire life of Christ and his teachings...In
celebrating the Reign of Christ the King, this Sunday also provides an appropriate bridge to the new Church Year…with
an emphasis on hope and expectation, the longing for the coming of the Kingdom of God amid the darkness of a sinful world.”
What
better way for us to celebrate the end of the church year than to pledge to seek hope in the kingdom of God, which already
began when Christ entered this world, and as we wait for the fulfillment of the kingdom of God, we work together to share
the love of God with all we encounter. Let us always remember where we have been,
so that we can reflect on where we are, in order to journey to where we are headed.
And
now with our voices raised together let us stand and affirm what we believe…
